My April books

This is an overview of the books I have finished in a month (not necessarily started in the same month) and those I have read to Gundel (marked with 😸).
I will be adding a short explanation why I chose a book or how I found it and possibly if it's a re-read candidate, but I'm usually not going to add real reviews or ratings (Gundel also refuses to give ratings). Should you want a little more information on a book you're interested in, though, just let me know.
It's posted one day early as the Thursday is reserved for my silent movie posts.


"Catweazle" by Richard Carpenter, first published in 1970 😸

Catweazle is a sorcerer living in 11th century England. Chased by Norman soldiers, he escapes by jumping into a lake - and coming up in the 1970s!
Luckily he meets the boy Edward, called Carrot, who does his best to keep Catweazle hidden and safe. Together they have some hilarious adventures while Catweazle tries to find a way back into his own time.

This was a re-read for a blog post.

"The Alington Inheritance" by Patricia Wentworth, first published in 1958
(Miss Silver 31)

Raised by her mother's old governess, Jenny never even knew that her late parents had been married and she therefore is heiress to the Alington riches. Her distant cousin Mac and his mother are not ready to give up the money so easily, so when she overhears Mac's plan to marry her to keep control over it, Jenny runs away.
It doesn't end there, though ...

More ear ringing for Liz on whose blog I came across Wentworth whose Miss Silver series fit right in with my vintage crime reading.

"The Art of Annemieke Mein: Wildlife Artist in Textiles" by Annemieke Mein, first published in 1992

Annemieke Mein is an Australian textile artists born in Holland. The book shows some of her works created in different techniques and from a variety of materials. She has added explanations about the inspiration and the artworks themselves.

I first learned about Mein thanks to a Style Imitating Art challenge post on Marsha's blog with the artwork "Whirlpool Frog" chosen by Salazar.
Mein's art is fascinating and of course the book can only give you a small idea. I wish I could see some of it in person.

"O diese Rasselbande" by Rosemarie Ditter, first published in 1953

A story of school and friendship.

Re-read for a future blog post.

"Stan: the Life of Stan Laurel" by Fred Lawrence Guiles, first published in 1980

The biography of Stan Laurel, about his beginnings in vaudeville, his film career without and then with Oliver Hardy, and his private life.

One of the movie biographies on my list (there's also another one on Laurel and Hardy on it).

"Meet the Newmans" by Jennifer Niven, first published in 2026

Del, Dinah, and their sons Guy and Shep have been America's favorite family for 12 years - on screen in black and white.
It's 1964 now and times are changing.
Then Del has an accident and Dinah has to take over.
Will it change the family, the real one and the one on TV?

A new entry on OverDrive.
For me it was a quick and easy read and I could relate to some of the issues, but it had a lot of those which got wrapped up a bit too neatly and quickly for me in the end which was a pity.

"Poirot and Me" by David Suchet and Geoffrey Wansell, first published in 2013

David Suchet played Agatha Christie's Belgian detective Hercule Poirot in 70 episodes over 25 years - shorter ones, but also longer films. In this book he talks about how he approached the role and what Poirot means to him.

I'm not a fan of Christie's books, I'm not a fan of all adaptations, I'm not even a fan of all the 70 episodes, but a huge fan of David Suchet's Poirot, so this was really interesting.

"Steeple Folly" by M. E. Atkinson, first published in 1950
(Locketts 14)

The three Lockett kids are in quarantine because one of them had German measles (although it says diphteria once at the very beginning?). As Bill needs to cram for an important entry exam, they are sent to a village where a highly regarded tutor lives.

What luck that this is where the Roberts children have written from to taunt the Locketts about their adventures!
Time for a new adventure.

After writing a blog post about the first book, a childhood favorite of mine, I got myself the books I was still missing from the series. This is the last one. 

"Why the Whales Came" by Michael Morpurgo, first published in 1985 😸

Like all the other children on the Scilly island Bryher, Gracie and her friend Daniel are not allowed on the side of the island where the mysterious and feared Birdman lives.
Of course, they go there anyway and become friends with the old Mr. Woodcock who lives a quiet life in his cottage carving birds from wood. He warns them to never visit the island Samson which is close by because there's a curse on it.
Then World War I begins and Gracie's father gets lost at sea ...

The book was a random find on the Internet Archive.

"The Penguin Pool Murder" by Stuart Palmer, first published in 1931
(Hildegarde Withers 1)

Hildegarde Withers has taken her school class to the New York Aquarium. Little does she know she will be drawn into a murder case there, but she can't resist offering Inspector Piper her help.

The movie adaptations were mentioned in a silent movie blog I'm following, so I looked for Palmer's books as I had never heard of Miss Withers before.

"Magpie Murders" by Anthony Horowitz, first published in 2016
(Susan Ryeland 1)

When editor Susan Ryeland reads the manuscript for the latest Atticus Pünd mystery by bestselling author Alan Conway, she's surprised to see that the last chapter is missing.
Then Conway is dead and Susan starts investigating.

I found the book easy enough to read although there's a complete book in a book, but I couldn't get rid of the feeling that the author was really proud of all the little Easter eggs, references (which I usually enjoy), and hints. All that did for me, however, was that I didn't like any of the characters, that I kept wondering if the "Midsomer Murders" episodes I was reminded of came before or after this book, and that I don't feel the slightest urge to read any of the sequels.

"Darling Girls" by Sally Hepworth, first published in 2024

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia are not biological sisters, but living as foster children together in the house of Miss Fairchild has made them feel like sisters.
When a body is found under the house years later, old childhood memories return. Whose bones are they and who put them there?

That was intense. I finished it as it was another recommendation along with my DNF and I didn't want to DNF this as well.
I had expected a thriller, but it's not really although there was a murder. Reading about the memories of children being abused in the foster system got really hard for me after a while.

"When in Rome" by Ngaio Marsh, first published in 1970
(Roderick Alleyn 26)

While in Rome to investigate a drug ring, Roderick Alleyn joins one of Sebastian Mailer's tours with a quite illustrious group of tourists to learn more about him.
During the tour Mailer disappears and later a postcard seller who had spat at him is found dead in the basilica they visited. Is Mailer not just a drug dealer and blackmailer, but also a murderer?

This is still part of my vintage crime project for which I keep getting books by Marsh and Allingham. The last two Marsh books are already on the way!

"Going Gangster" by M. E. Atkinson, first published in 1940
(Locketts 5)

This time it's only Jane and Bill who have an adventure as Oliver is already in school while Jane keeps the reconvalescing Bill company for a week.
They are dragged into this one by an old acquaintance, bound by a promise. She recuits their help in taking a girl from the school she hates back to her parents who are Romani (probably, with the book being from the 40s that's not the word that is used).

After writing a blog post about the first book, a childhood favorite of mine, I got myself the books I was still missing from the series.

"The Three Investigators in The Secret of the Crooked Cat" by William Arden (the books were published attributed to Alfred Hitchcock), first published in 1970 😸
(The Three Investigators 13)

Why should someone want to steal a carnival prize? Does the crooked cat hold a secret and is therefore more valuable?
Jupiter, Peter, and Bob soon learn that a carnival can be dangerous ground.

I read this series a long time ago and am going through it again bit by bit after writing a blog post about it. This book is the thirteenth in the series.

"Mistresses : True Stories of Seduction, Power and Ambition" by Leigh Eduardo, first published in 2005

Eduardo tells the stories of eight famous mistresses from the 17th to the 20th century, from Barbara Villiers to La Belle Otero.

I stumbled upon this book because one chapter is about Marion Davies. It woke the interest in me for reading up on one or the other person in more detail (not necessarily the women the book is about), but parts had more of a tabloid character for me - meant to shock the readers? I also wondered why these eight were chosen, it seemed a curious mix.

"Vanishing Culture: A Report on Our Fragile Cultural Record" by Luca Messarra et al., first published in 2026 😸

Have you ever wondered about the preservation of materials in libraries and archives and the possibility to access the information easily? We often take for granted that physical and digital media are archived in some way, but is that really the case?

The Internet Archive had announced their book (CC BY 4.0) on Instagram and as a librarian I thought this was a really interesting topic.
I'm not sure how interested Gundel was in it, but reading it to her snuggled up or next to me helped me concentrate on the chapters about media I knew not much or nothing about.


DNF:

"The Maid" by Nita Prose, first published in 2022
(Molly Gray 1)

Molly is a maid in a high class hotel.
One day she founds one of the regular guests dead on his bed.

I followed a recommendation and really wanted to finish it to talk about it to a new friend, but DNFed at about a third because I sadly didn't like the style or the way the protagonist was portrayed.

"Yesteryear" by Caro Claire Burke, first published in 2026

One morning, Natalie, a successful "tradwife" influencer, wakes up in a place that is her home but also isn't, with a husband and children who seem familiar yet not like hers, in an environment without technology and convenience.

I hadn't expected a second DNF this month. Maybe I'm missing something, but this just wasn't what I had anticipated and it didn't work for me for several reasons, so I gave up eventually although I had come pretty far.